"Ivan’s Childhood" was filmed in the 1950s. As the main battlefield, the Soviet Union experienced the pain of all humanity. During the Cold War, war films accounted for a large proportion of Soviet movies. We can see from "Xia Boyang" to Tarkovsky chose a child as the protagonist of "Goose Nanfei" films with different styles and the same theme, but it was rare in war genre movies at that time. Why choose a child as the protagonist of the narrative, and what does Tarkovsky want to express through him?
1. The dream is the manifestation of returning to childhood
When it comes to war, we first think that it belongs to the adult world. If it is more narrow, it belongs to the decision-making of the country's ruling class. The choice of ordinary people is only to follow the rise and fall of history and the decision of high power. Ivan is in war. Existence in is an alternative. He is neither an orthodox soldier, no military title nor a child in the traditional sense, because no child will actively seek military missions and give up playing and going to school.
All the depictions of his childhood in the film appeared during his sleep. Tarkovsky deliberately chose bright light and open vision to express the beauty of childhood. Freud believed that dreams are the presentation of the inner subconscious. The inner emotions suppressed by the dreamer. We can see the elements that appear in Ivan’s sleep. Mother, seaside, apple-eating horse, childhood playmates are all things that have nothing to do with war. Ivan chooses to participate in war from the behavior, but from the heart But desperately eager to return to life in peacetime.
The film confuses dreams and wars, and uses a dualistic approach (a strong contrast in audiovisual language, such as bright and dark, open and closed compositions, soft light and direct shooting) to show a child’s distortion State of existence.
2. The machine under the alienation of war
When a child enters a war, most people’s choice is to prevent and protect, and the chief in the film does the same, but Ivan has a strong personal will. It is his own choice to enter the war and commit to death. This is a personal aspect. The choice made to the call of war.
The cause of Ivan's death was to perform a mission and was discovered by the enemy in the birch forest. The birch forest is a typical image, representing the Soviet Union.
3. The absurdity of the existence of war
At the end of the film, Ivan, as a living entity, becomes a profile with a profile picture. Only a few words describe him. The code represents the loss of personal meaning. When we know that all the prisoners in the concentration camp have died, these There is an Ivan behind the code without vital signs.
Tarkovsky complained of the cruelty of the war by depicting the death of Ivan’s childhood. His complaint was not a shout, but a requiem for the dead.
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